n the Far East, these birds have been regarded
as emblems of conjugal affection.

[2] There is a pathetic double meaning in the third verse; for the
syllables composing the proper name Akanuma ("Red Marsh") may also be
read as akanu-ma, signifying "the time of our inseparable (or
delightful) relation." So the poem can also be thus rendered:--"When
the day began to fail, I had invited him to accompany me...! Now, after
the time of that happy relation, what misery for the one who must
slumber alone in the shadow of the rushes!"--The makomo is a short of
large rush, used for making baskets.

THE STORY OF O-TEI

(1) "-sama" is a polite suffix attached to personal names.

(2) A Buddhist term commonly used to signify a kind of heaven.

[1] The Buddhist term zokumyo ("profane name") signifies the personal
name, borne during life, in contradistinction to the kaimyo
("sila-name") or homyo ("Law-name") given after death,--religious
posthumous appellations inscribed upon the tomb, and upon the mortuary
tablet in the parish-temple.--For some account of these, see my paper
entitled, "The Literature of the Dead," in Exotics and Retrospectives.

[2] Buddhist household shrine.

(3) Direct translation of a Japanese form of address used toward
young, unmarried women.

DIPLOMACY

(1) The spacious house and grounds of a wealthy person is thus called.

(2) A Buddhist service for the dead.

OF A MIRROR AND A BELL

(1) Part of present-day Shizuoka Prefecture.

(2) The two-hour period between 1 AM and 3 AM.

(3) A monetary unit.

JIKININKI

(1) The southern part of present-day Gifu Prefecture.

[1] Literally, a man-eating goblin. The Japanese narrator gives also
the Sanscrit term, "Rakshasa;" but this word is quite as vague as
jikininki, since there are many kinds of Rakshasas. Apparently the word
jikininki signifies here one of the Baramon-Rasetsu-Gaki,--forming the
twenty-sixth class of pretas enumerated in the old Buddhist books.

[2] A Segaki-service is a special Buddhist service performed on behalf
of beings supposed to have entered into the condition of gaki (pretas),
or hungry spirits. For a brief account of such a service, see my
Japanese Miscellany.

[3] Literally, "five-circle [or five-zone] stone." A funeral monument
consisting of five parts superimposed,--each of a different
form,--symbolizing the five mystic elements: Ether, Air, Fire, Water,
Earth.

MUJINA

(1) A kind of badg